The King never actually charted with a Christmas single, according to the book Rock On, but this LP no doubt did very well on the album charts on its release in 1957. It's been repackaged a number of times since and the track lineup has changed; my budget re-release copy has the standards "Silent Night," "White Christmas," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," "Here Comes Santa Claus," along with "Blue Christmas," the tough blues "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," the rocking "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me," and "Mama Liked the Roses." Some of the repackages throw in gospel performances that have nothing to do with Christmas, like "Peace in the Valley." About 1970 or so, he released Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, an album with a completely different track lineup, including "Merry Christmas Baby," "The First Noel," "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," "On a Snowy Christmas Night," "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)," "Silver Bells," and several more, a more serious and lugubrious performance than the original. Both albums remain available today, for download anyway, along with a CD compilation of all his original holiday performances, If Every Day Was Like Christmas, available in a gift box with a fold-out of a snow-covered Graceland. The near-frantic pace of reissues out of the Elvis universe in the past couple of years has resulted in a further number of repackagings of his Christmas repertoire, so a collector could make a mini-specialty of acquiring them all. Christmas Peace, a new 2-disc compilation for 2003, includes one disc of his traditional gospel tunes and one disc of Christmas tunes. UPDATE: Can't leave Elvis without mentioning 2008's Elvis Presley Christmas Duets, in which modern technology makes it possible for a bunch of latter-day female country singers to duet with Elvis. I'm not one to quibble about duetting with dead people; my objection to this collection is that only country singers are duet partners here. Elvis was the king of rock 'n roll; during his lifetime, he wasn't played much on country radio. It's only since his death that he's been considered sympatico with the country realm, to the point that he's being forgotten as a rock icon. Not to mention that some of the duet partners fall pretty short of stature for this exercise -- Carrie Underwood, really? That's about as appropriate as a John Lennon-Justin Bieber recording.
Elvis' Christmas Album, Elvis Presley (RCA)
The King never actually charted with a Christmas single, according to the book Rock On, but this LP no doubt did very well on the album charts on its release in 1957. It's been repackaged a number of times since and the track lineup has changed; my budget re-release copy has the standards "Silent Night," "White Christmas," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," "Here Comes Santa Claus," along with "Blue Christmas," the tough blues "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," the rocking "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me," and "Mama Liked the Roses." Some of the repackages throw in gospel performances that have nothing to do with Christmas, like "Peace in the Valley." About 1970 or so, he released Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, an album with a completely different track lineup, including "Merry Christmas Baby," "The First Noel," "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," "On a Snowy Christmas Night," "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)," "Silver Bells," and several more, a more serious and lugubrious performance than the original. Both albums remain available today, for download anyway, along with a CD compilation of all his original holiday performances, If Every Day Was Like Christmas, available in a gift box with a fold-out of a snow-covered Graceland. The near-frantic pace of reissues out of the Elvis universe in the past couple of years has resulted in a further number of repackagings of his Christmas repertoire, so a collector could make a mini-specialty of acquiring them all. Christmas Peace, a new 2-disc compilation for 2003, includes one disc of his traditional gospel tunes and one disc of Christmas tunes. UPDATE: Can't leave Elvis without mentioning 2008's Elvis Presley Christmas Duets, in which modern technology makes it possible for a bunch of latter-day female country singers to duet with Elvis. I'm not one to quibble about duetting with dead people; my objection to this collection is that only country singers are duet partners here. Elvis was the king of rock 'n roll; during his lifetime, he wasn't played much on country radio. It's only since his death that he's been considered sympatico with the country realm, to the point that he's being forgotten as a rock icon. Not to mention that some of the duet partners fall pretty short of stature for this exercise -- Carrie Underwood, really? That's about as appropriate as a John Lennon-Justin Bieber recording.
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